Source: $5m boost for livestock farmers – Sunday News October 2, 2016

Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
FINANCIAL institution ZB Bank has availed a $5 million loan facility for communal and smallholder livestock farmers on relaxed terms to enable them to boost production during the summer season.

In an interview, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister responsible for livestock Paddy Zhanda said ZB Bank had set aside $5 million to fund farmers in the 2016/17 summer season that would be accessed by communal and smallholder farmers especially those in livestock production.

“One can borrow against their cattle. We are pleased that the financial institution that we are working with is very enthusiastic about this. We will be launching the pioneer programme very soon to experiment. This is an easier way of identifying your cattle as well as marketing of livestock. ZB Bank is the one that proposed that initiative. They have put $5 million aside,” said Deputy Minister Zhanda.

He said the livestock industry has the potential to generate over $2 billion annually if properly managed. He said the 5,3 million head of cattle that the country was sitting on is dead capital that was underutilised and there was a need for communal farmers to grow into commercial farming and contribute towards the development of the economy.

He said the Government was crafting a law that would compel farmers to insert microscopic chips and electronic tagging on their cattle to allow easy identification and marketing.

“It’s at a very early stage but we are pleased with where we are now. The idea is to make it easier for people to sell their livestock. We want to unlock the value like for instance in Zimbabwe we have 5,3 million cattle and selling them at an average of US$400 we are talking about more than $2 billion. This is dead capital lying idle out there,” said Deputy Minister Zhanda.